Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy will go into the final day of the US$8 million DP World Tour Championship just one shot off the pace as leader Andy Sullivan’s dreams of landing the biggest title of his career remain firmly alive at the Earth course, Jumeirah Golf Estates.

In 2012, McIlroy lifted both the DP World Tour Championship and The Race to Dubai titles. This year, the World Number Three again has his eye on repeating the Dubai Double after an impressive third round seven under 65 saw him move to 15 under and ominously onto the shoulder of England’s Sullivan.

Yet despite the pressure from the Northern Irishman, Sullivan refused to crumble and a tricky par putt holed on the 18th for four under 68 means he goes into the final round on 16 under with the narrowest of advantages over a man ranked 50 places ahead of him in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Just another day on the golf course, smiled Sullivan when asked about the prospect of playing in the final pairing alongside one of the biggest names in world golf. If I think any different then the pressure is on me and I’ll start thinking of winning. I’m playing well, putting well, so I’ll just try to give myself as many chances as possible.

I know Rory is going to have a good run at it tomorrow. For me, it’s about taking the chances and to see where we finish. I’m just looking forward to playing with Rory on the last day of the DP World Tour Championship – no-one is going to expect me to beat him tomorrow so it’s a nice position to be in, one in front. It’s going to be amazing.

McIlroy’s affinity with the Earth course is clear yet despite shooting his best-ever round at the Earth course he wasn’t entirely happy with his day’s work.

I guess you can’t really walk off this golf course – especially in these conditions – after shooting seven under and not feel good about yourself, he said. But at the same time, I feel like it could have been a lot better.

The good thing is there’s still one round of golf left. If this had been the final day, I’d be kicking myself with some of the chances I missed. But I’m playing lovely so that bodes well for tomorrow – it’s exactly where I want to be, in contention going into Sunday, so it’s all good.

While all eyes will be on the two leaders as they go head-to-head, Sullivan and McIlroy will also be firmly in the sights of a chasing pack that includes Patrick Reed of the USA (13 under), Korean Byeong-hun An and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo at 12 under with Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and English duo Danny Willett and Matthew Fitzpatrick a further shot back on 11 under.

Willett, McIlroy’s nearest rival in The Race to Dubai, fired a third round five under 67 was good enough to take him into a tie for fifth but not enough to close the gap on the man he must finish ahead of to have any hope of being European Number One.

I’m just going to go out and see how things are, said Willett, who started the day two behind McIlroy but now has to make up four shots over the final 18 holes. Rory was on the leaderboard early and it was interesting to see how he was getting on and how Sully was coping with people coming at him. Luckily I’m not going to be a ridiculous way behind – if I can get the gap to two or three shots, anything can happen.

The DP World Tour Championship – the final event on The Race to Dubai – finishes today (Sunday November 22) with play commencing at 7.00am before Sullivan and McIlroy take to the course at 12.00pm.

General admission at Jumeirah Golf Estates is free of charge and can be obtained by registering online at www.DPWorldTourChampionship.com.